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Former student volunteers at school
Posted: 3rd April 2020A former student has returned to her school to volunteer as a teacher during the Coronavirus shutdown.
Daisy Perry left Burnt Mill Academy in 2015 with the ambition of returning to teach PE when qualified as a teacher.
Since leaving, the former head girl has returned to the school at every opportunity, doing a one day per week placement for a year while at sixth form, helping out on sports days and open evenings, invigilating during exams and running summer school sessions for new students joining Year 7.
Now, she is volunteering her time to help run PE lessons for children of key workers at Burnt Mill and neighbouring Sir Frederick Gibberd College three days per week during the school closures.
The 21-year-old, who is in her second year of a four-year PE degree at the University of Bedfordshire, said: “I loved PE when I was at Burnt Mill and it’s my dream to return there as a teacher after I graduate. I keep in regular contact with many teachers and they are always asking me when I’m coming back to teach.
“I was due to be starting a 7-week school placement as part of my degree, but that was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. I could not just sit around at home and I knew the schools would be open for children of key workers with PE every day. I said I could be there to help if they needed me.”
Miss Perry has been helping to run PE classes, including fitness, cricket and badminton.
She said: “If I was fully qualified, I would be working in a school during the shutdown anyway.
“It is nice to give something back to the parents who are out there working to help us. It is making me realise how important the role of a teacher is. These children want an education and are so happy to be able to get involved in lessons.”